Preached at Canadochly Lutheran Church on Sunday, June 15, 2014
Scripture text: Genesis 1
There are some questions that simply do not have answers. For instance, there are no good answers to that question wives sometimes ask their husbands: Do I look fat in this outfit? Six years of marriage and numerous girlfriends before that have taught me that there is no answer I could give to that question that will not get me in some sort of trouble.
But jokes aside, there are truly are questions that do not have answers. Why was my home destroyed by a hurricane? That question doesn’t really have an answer. Sure, you could look at it as cause-and-effect. “Your home was in Florida.” But that’s not really what’s being asked, so it fails as an answer.
Part of our problem to some degree is that English is sometimes a painfully imprecise language. To answer a question like that one (Why did this happen?) with a cause-and-effect answer is to answer a “why” question with a “how” answer. You’re not answering why something happened, you’re telling how it happened. How questions are science questions. The answer is meteorology in the case of hurricanes, plate tectonics in the case of earthquakes, human biology and physiology in the case of disease, and so forth.
Why however is a metaphysical question, a philosophical question. It is a question that seeks meaning not mechanics. Understanding rather than causation.
We are very bad about mixing up those two words in our language. We blur the lines between meaning and function, truth and fact, to the point where sometimes we’re not sure of the distinction between one and the other. And as a result, we end up giving answers to questions that have no answers.
Now why am I bringing up all this? Quite simply because today is Trinity Sunday and we confronted once again with the doctrine of the Trinity. In many ways this is the ultimate question to which there is no answer: How does the Trinity work?
Well, I can tell you right now that if you actually have an answer to that question, you’re probably a heretic. There is no answer. I am steeped in the Scriptures, trained at one of the finest seminaries in the ELCA, have almost 13 years of parish experience as a pastor and I don’t have the first clue as to how this works. No one does. Not really.
But it’s also the wrong question. Two Sundays ago I took the disciples to task for asking Jesus the wrong question on the mountain of the ascension. Now I’m taking to task myself and the rest of the church for asking the wrong question about the Trinity. It’s not about the “how.” It’s all about the “why.” It’s about what this means, not how it functions.
And what does it mean? Now that’s a question we can answer. It is about life and it is about love.
The Creation story bears this out. I have to confess that I was tempted to diverge here for a bit, because here is a story where, probably more than anywhere else in Scripture, we confuse the why and the how. But I’ll resist that temptation and focus on that why, because this story is abundant with it.
This story is included on Trinity Sunday because here we see the Trinity doing what it does: bringing life. The Father creates, the Word (the Son) speaks, and the Spirit breathes. And all together create life that is good and wondrous and beloved.
“It is good.” “It is very good.” God says of the universe. It is precious to him. He loves it. That’s why he made it. That’s why he’s always tinkering with it. That’s why he seeks to save it. That’s why he’s infinitely patient with it, even when it disobeys and it disappoints. He loves it beyond words. He loves us and wants us to have life in abundance.
It’s all about life and love. And you can take the macro and go to the micro, the general to the specific, and it still works. You, me. The Father created us. The Son died on a cross and rose again for us. And the reason we know all that is because the Spirit is rattling around inside our heads and hearts reminding us of it constantly. Taking the words of Scripture, the beauty of creation, the sacraments of altar and font, the companionship of friends, and whatever else it can to tell us time and again that God loves us and wants us to live. To live abundantly. To live eternally.
It’s all about life and love. That is why there is a Trinity, why God chooses to interact with us in this way. It brings life and it brings love. There is no life without the Father’s creation. There is no life without the Spirit’s breathing. There is no life without the Son’s cross and resurrection.
And it is love that spurs the Father to create. It is love that sends the Spirit in, with, and among us. It is love that brought the Son to this world to live, die, and rise again for our sake and for the sake of all creation.
That is what the Trinity means. That’s the why of this doctrine, this teaching, this reality. I still don’t know how it works. I’m not sure I’ll ever know. But I do know why it was done. It is done for me and it is done for you. It is done for everyone in this creation, those long dead and forgotten (to us anyway) and to those yet unborn. God loves them all. God created or will create them all, giving them life. Jesus died and rose again for them all. And the Spirit blows in their midst, telling and reminding them each of who God is and what he’s done. That’s the Trinity and that’s why we celebrate it today. It’s about love and life for all of us. Amen.
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